Seeing Stars Read Online Free PDF Page A

gorgeous and much younger lover.
    As far as Zillah was concerned, Mitzi had it all.
    ‘I’m sure she will. Timmy says she’s got it all in hand.’

    Zillah still looked slightly mutinous. ‘Although why there was so much fuss about his kebabs last year, I can’t imagine.’
    ‘Because it weren’t traditional food, that’s why.’ Ida guzzled the dregs of her tea. ‘We’ve always had green cheese for St
     Bedric’s. It don’t do to tamper with the old ways. And giving people things on sticks when they’ve ’ad a pint or two is a
     recipe for disaster. I’m surprised they didn’t ’ave someone’s eye out. You can’t go messing about with the old traditions.
     Mind, you wouldn’t understand, being a newcomer.’
    ‘I’m not a bloody newcomer. I’ve lived in Fiddlesticks since 1976.’
    ‘Newcomer, as I say,’ Ida sniffed. ‘You has to be able to trace your ancestors back to the thirteenth century like we can
     before you can say you really belong.’
    ‘Ida!’ Gwyneth shook her head. ‘Zil’s part of this village just like we are. No one bothers with all that old feudal stuff
     any more.’
    ‘Well, they should,’ Ida huffed. ‘The moon and the stars don’t never change, do they? Year in, year out they’re always the
     same. St Bedric was the first one to point that out round here. And it’ll be a full moon on Saturday which is just how it
     should be. It’s what St Bedric’s Eve is all about, after all.’
    ‘Is it?’ Zillah raised her eyebrows. ‘I thought it was like all the other things we do here under the guise of celestial celebrations
     – an opportunity to get roaring drunk and behave badly. And maybe I can’t trace my family back through the Fiddlesticks charters,
     but I intend to have a good time on Saturday night anyway.’
    Well, as long Amber stayed as far away from Lewis as possible.
    Big Ida replaced her cup on the tray. ‘Course you will, my love. We all will. And even if you don’t
belong
here as such, me and Gwyneth are damn lucky to have you as a neighbour … Now I’m off to feed me chickens and see if they’ve
     provided me with an egg for me dinner.’

    They watched as Ida lumbered through the delphiniums and stepped heavily over the tumbledown fences towards her own garden.
    ‘Was that an apology for calling me an incomer?’ Zillah squinted at Gwyneth.
    ‘About as close as Ida gets to one, I reckon. She really should think before she speaks – but like her being careful with
     her money, she ain’t going to change now. Her heart’s in the right place.’
    ‘So’s yours. And I’m lucky to have both of you. I wouldn’t have coped when I first came here without you.’
    Both she and Gwyneth sat silently for a moment, remembering.
    ‘Ah, yes duck, but things have changed so much since those days, haven’t they? You’re fine now. And Lewis has—’
    Zillah didn’t want to talk about Lewis. Not any more. And she certainly didn’t want to think about the past, and the awfulness
     of her life when she’d arrived in Fiddlesticks. Not today. Not when everything was going so well.
    She stood up quickly. ‘It’s time I was getting ready for work, anyway. It’s going to be another scorcher. Pity I’ve got to
     be shut in the pub for hours.’
    ‘Get away with you.’ Gwyneth rolled the newspaper round the pea pods and reached down for the colander. ‘You love your job.
     And your boss loves you.’
    Zillah pulled a face. ‘Oh, please don’t start that again.’
    ‘You could do a lot worse than Timmy Pluckrose. He’s got a lot to offer a girl. A nice little pub, a pot of money in the bank
     and all his own teeth.’
    ‘And that last bit is more than you can say about most men in Fiddlesticks. We’re in serious danger of becoming another Eastbourne.’
    ‘That’s why we need youngsters like you and Lewis to stay on and regenerate the village,’ Gwyneth chuckled. ‘Which is what,
     according to you, he’s aiming to do.’
    ‘Thanks for